FRANCIS TREVELYAN BUCKLAND. 403 



In 1844, at the age of eighteen, Frank entered 

 Christ Church, Oxford. Here he turned the court 

 between his college rooms and the canon's gardens 

 into a menagerie. He owned a young bear, Tiglath 

 Pileser, Jacko the monkey, an eagle, a jackal, be- 

 sides marmots, guinea-pigs, squirrels, and dormice, 

 an adder and other snakes, tortoises, green frogs 

 and a chameleon. Skeletons and stuffed specimens 

 were numerous. 



Many of these pets strayed away. The marmot 

 got into the chapter-house, and the eagle stationed 

 himself in the chapel doorway, and attacked those 

 who wished to enter. 



Dr. Liddon tells of being invited to Frank's 

 rooms, to breakfast with him. "The marmots, 

 which had hibernated in the cellar below, had 

 just, as he expressed it, 'thawed.' There was 

 great excitement ; the creatures ran about the 

 table, as entitled to the honors of the day ; though 

 there were other beasts and reptiles in the room 

 too, which in later life would have made breakfast- 

 ing difficult. Speaking of reptiles, one very early 

 incident in my Oxford life was joining in a hunt 

 of Frank's adder. It had escaped into Mr. Ben- 

 son's rooms, and was pursued into the bedroom by 

 a group of undergraduates, who had, however, dif- 

 ferent objects in view. Frank certainly had the 

 well-being of the adder chiefly at heart ; the rest 

 of us, I fear, were governed by the lower motive 

 of escaping being bitten anyhow if consistently 

 with the adder's safety, well if not, still of es- 



